Martin Lévesque returned marked by his missions abroad, more particularly his second in Afghanistan which was immediately followed by a deployment in Haiti, testified his ex-spouse at the opening of the defense at the trial of the former soldier accused of the murder of his neighbor Patricia Sirois.
• Read also: Murder of Patricia Sirois: a neighbor troubled by his meeting with Martin Lévesque and his spouse just before the tragedy
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Martin Lévesque was deeply saddened by the death of at least 5 brothers in arms to whom he was close, told the jury, Nancy Ouellet, who was in a relationship with the man for 20 years and who is the mother of his two children.
The deaths of Private Matthieu Allard and Corporal Christian Bobbitt particularly hurt him. “They were guys that Martin had trained. It was really a big loss for him,” explained Ms. Ouellet, recalling that Martin had told her he was there when the explosion killed them.
“He said to me, ‘I was there, I couldn’t help them. They prevented us from going there”. Bobbitt and Allard, it really affected him.
12 years after their tragic death, during his arrest for the murder of Patricia Sirois, the accused wore a sweater bearing a badge on which the inscriptions “Bob” and “Matt” can be read.
Photo provided by the court
“He had kept berets, effigies, items that [leur] had belonged”, confirmed his ex.
The drop that broke the camel’s back
In addition to seeing comrades die, Martin Lévesque was also injured by the explosion of a mine. Even so, he insisted on returning to combat after being hospitalized to treat facial burns and hand injuries.
He finally returned from this second round in Afghanistan on November 29, 2009, “tired, exhausted” from his 6-month deployment. Martin Lévesque, however, only spent a month at home before leaving, recalled his ex-wife.
Photo provided by the court
“There was the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010,” said Mr.me Ouellet, adding that this mission will have been “the worst” according to Martin Lévesque. “He told me he always had Vicks under his nose for body odors.”
The deployment which was to last a few weeks will have lasted six months and seems to have become the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“When he came back, it was worse than worse,” recalled the woman, testifying to punches in the walls and inexplicable anger. “He was really aggressive. […] There, I had lost it”.
In fact, upon his return from Afghanistan and his return from Haiti, Lévesque even refused to let his wife and children meet him at the airport, a moment of happy reunion after difficult months.
“You don’t understand what I’m going through,” said the soldier to his wife.
Folded up in alcohol
In the following months and until their separation at the beginning of 2011, Martin Lévesque took refuge in alcohol, isolating himself from his family, spending his days in motocross.
“He left at 9 a.m. in the morning on a motocross, he stopped filling his backpack with beer at the convenience store and he could come back at 4 or 5 a.m. in the evening. And there, he could no longer stand up,” testified Nancy Ouellet, who finally left him after an argument over the holidays when the accused threw a bottle of wine at a wall at his stepmother’s house.
In the last weeks before she moved, Nancy Ouellet noticed how drastic the changes in behavior of Lévesque were.
“He was listening to war videos, beheading videos,” she described, adding that after the separation, a rift had grown between Lévesque and her children.
“He was barely calling at their party, he was totally selfless,” Ms.me Ouellet.
“Martin was once a good guy”
If she agreed to testify at the trial of her ex, it is mainly because “Martin has already been a good guy”.
“When I heard the news [le meurtre de Patricia Sirois], that it was my ex, Martin Lévesque, I was surprised, demolished. Martin, that was not it,” insisted Nancy Ouellet at the end of her description of a violent crescendo that the defense intends to present as being the consequences of a post-traumatic stress disorder so intense that Martin Lévesque cannot be held criminally responsible for the murder of Patricia Sirois.
Photo provided by the court
Nancy Ouellet will be cross-examined by the prosecution on Tuesday afternoon.
The defense will also hear this week from psychiatrist Mathieu Bilodeau, who specializes in the treatment of operational stress injuries, as well as Dr.r Gilles Chamberland, who evaluated Martin Lévesque. The accused will also take the stand to tell his story to the jury.